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Indicators for Social and Emotional Development in Young Children:
Challenges and Opportunities
A Webinar for the ECCS Community
Elizabeth A. Isakson, MD, FAAPResearch Consultant, NCCP, Project Thrive
Leslie L. Davidson, MD, MscProfessor of Clinical Epidemiology and Clinical PediatricsMailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
Jackie Counts, MSWAssociate Director, Institute for Educational Research and Public Service; Kansas ECCS Coordinator
New York, NY│March 3, 2010
Learning Objectives:
• Explain why social-emotional indicators are important to promotion and prevention in early childhood
• List suggested indicators for social-emotional development
• Describe the challenges and opportunities for states in developing social-emotional indicators
• Describe a process for prioritizing and developing indicators
Social-emotional Development
• A domain of early child development that describes the
acquisition of the skills for interacting and maintaining
relationships with others
• Important competencies in social-emotional development
are self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, and emotional
understanding
• These competencies are essential in developing initiative in
learning and leading to quality interactions with adults and
peers
• Natural variation in acquisition of these competencies in
early childhood
• Multiple socio-demographic risks can and does impede this
development
Why is social-emotional development important to school readiness?
• Social-emotional competencies as important as literacy in being ready for school
• Once in school social-emotional deficits can lead to poor learning and school failure
Indicator of child well-being
• A meaningful measure which serves as a proxy for an important aspect of the well-being of children or the systems which promote well-being
• An indicator depends on using reliable and routinely available data, that can be tracked over time to quantify both baseline and changes
• It must have a numerator and a denominator
• Sometimes called benchmark
State Indicators for social-emotional development- Friedman Model
• Communication power
• Proxy power
• Data power
• Data development
State Indicators for Social-Emotional Development- Getting Ready 2005
• Percent of children who often or very often exhibit positive social behaviors when interacting with their peers
• Rate of substantiated child abuse and neglect among children birth to age 6
• Percent of children birth to age 6 in out-of-home placement (foster care) who have no more than two placements in a 24-month period
State Indicators for Social-Emotional Development- Project Thrive
• Project Thrive Short Take #7- (for states)
• Published in 2008
• Suggested indicators for ECCS across 5 domains
including social-emotional – total of 32 indicators
• Contained 6 that address social and emotional
development
Caveat regarding any list of indicators
• Not every indicator desirable for every state – nor is this list inclusive
• Markers of support for socio emotional development or of problems in provision of that support
• View them on a spectrum from promotion and prevention to rescue
"Indicators for Social-emotional Development in Early Childhood: a Guide for Local Stakeholders"
• Saw the need for coordination between the state and localities on indicator development
• Capture the opportunity to develop quality indicators for social-emotional development along the full spectrum of children and services in a way that states and localities can build on each others work and experience
Survey Methods
• Web-based survey sent to ECCS Coordinators in Spring 2009: 2 reminders sent
• Queried on indicator experiences in general and specifically which of the 6 indicators we had identified as social-emotional from Short take #7
• Late 2009- conducted phone interviews with purposefully selected states for contextual information about experiences with indicators
Survey Results
Progress on
Indicator
Development
Yes Total Possible Percent
State/Territory
responded36 52 69%
Adopted List of
indicators23 36 64%
Adopted List with at
least 1 Social-
emotional indicator
20 23 87%
Survey Results
Social-emotional
indicator adopted
Number of states
that adopted
indicator
Total Possible
Percentage of states
that adopted
indicator
Child abuse rate 17 20 85%
Dev/MH screenings 8 20 40%
MH Consultation in
ECE6 20 30%
Foster Care stability 5 20 25%
Expulsion from ECE 3 20 15%
Maternal Depression
screening2 20 10%
Kindergarten
assessment of social-
emotional skills
6 20 30%
Percentage of States that adopted each specific SEI
Number of SEI adopted by States
Comments from Survey
• Availability of data was a problem
• Data held in different agencies or did not exist
• Population vs. program level indicators confusing
• No resources for indicator development
• People focused on their content area
• Lack of clarity about definitions
• Lack of knowledge on how to specifically measure indicator
Phone Follow-Up
• Interviewed: ECCS coordinators that had indicator list developed, in process and no where on the horizon
• Thank you for time, frankness, and valuable information
Helpful factors- lessons learned for phone survey
• Having a prior initiative in early childhood data development – e.g. Getting Ready States
• Collaborating with academic or institute partner
• Joining with another area of state government with expertise- health department epidemiologists
• Piggy-backing on other initiatives – some unrelated to ECCS
Lessons Learned: Challenges
• Steering committee with strong programmatic focus
• Focus on dream indicators- rather than feasible indicators
• Funding – especially early in the process
• Frequent job turnover
Suggested list of Social-emotional Indicators
1. Proportion of children under age 6 who receive behavioral screenings
2. Proportion of mothers of children under age 6 screened and appropriately referred for depression
3. Proportion of preschool and child care settings with access to mental health consultation
4. Percentage of child care centers with good or excellent rating on social-emotional component of classroom assessment in state quality improvement initiative: such as state QRS/QRIS
Suggested list of indicators
5. Rate of Children under age 6 who are expelled from child care or preschool due to behavioral problems
6. Rate of substantiated cases of child abuse and neglect among children birth to age 6
7. Proportion of children birth to age 6 in stable out-of-home placements (no more than two placements in 24 months)
How can states work towards useful social-emotional indicators
Develop interventionsMonitor spread/effectiveness
Identify DisparitiesIdentify Policy opportunities
Technical
assistance –
Stakeholders
How can states work towards useful social-emotional indicators
Develop interventionsMonitor spread/effectiveness
Identify DisparitiesIdentify Policy opportunities
Technical
assistance -
Stakeholders
Example: developmental screening with social-emotional component
• First on our spectrum
• Universal
• Proportion of children under age 6 receiving social-emotional screening with a validated screening tool
o Define validated screening tool
o State the importance to social-emotional development
Example – define what data you want
• Percentage of children screened out of the total number of children who were seen for a well child visit
o Could have done all children - accesso Both are acceptable - specificity is important
• Define an age rangeo Essential to be specifico Under age 6 means all 5 years olds included
Example – where can you find the data
• National Children Survey –o Representative sample at state levelo Have a question that asks about developmental
screening o 2004 and 2007
• EPSDT –o Validated screen should be required o Do they have social-emotional component
• Medicaid billing -o Code use is variable o Accuracy can be an issue
Example – where can you find the data
• Head Start -o All children required to have a developmental
screening in head start
• Localities -o Do you start with certain counties or areas that are
working on developmental screening and build into the effort indicator development
o Start small with - step wise growth to statewide data
Example – establishing a baseline
• Means where you are
• Not able to interpret much from a baseline unless able to compare to other values
• Initial baseline may be a range because an exact number is not possible given the data
o Ascertain that 30-40% of all children under 6 are receiving a validated developmental screening during well child visits
Example – tracking over time
• Indicators are meant for comparison over time and between different groups
• Interval can vary depending on need, and availability of information
• No correct amount of time – but to be effective need to check often enough to see changes
Example – Using the data
• Help with resource allocation
• Identify policy innovations
• Identify disparities
• Identify effective programs
Creating Quality Social-emotional Indicators
• Does the indicator have a meaningful definition?
• Does the definition contain the concept of percentage, proportion or rate?
• Is the population defined?
• Have possible sources of the information for the indicator been identified?
• If not are there alternative smaller populations that can be assessed?
• Is the available information accurate?
• Are there partners that can help in developing the needed information?
• How will the baseline for the indicator be defined?
• How will the indicator be followed over time?
How can states work towards useful social-emotional indicators
Develop interventionsMonitor spread/effectiveness
Identify DisparitiesIdentify Policy opportunities
Technical
assistance -
Stakeholders
Learning Objectives:
• Explain why social-emotional indicators are important to promotion and prevention in early childhood
• List suggested indicators for social-emotional development
• Describe the challenges and opportunities for states in developing social-emotional indicators
• Describe a process for prioritizing and developing indicators
References and Resources: Social-emotional Development
Center on the Social Emotional Foundations for Early Learning
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/csefel/index.html
Social-emotional Development in Early Childhood: What every Policymaker Should Know
http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_882.html
Ready to Enter: What Research Tells Policymakers About Strategies to Promote Social and Emotional School Readiness Among Three- and Four-Year-Old Children
http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_485.html
Patterson C (2008). Child Development New York: McGraw-Hill
References and Resources: Indicators
Getting Ready – School Readiness Project
http://www.gettingready.org/matriarch/MultiPiecePage.asp_Q_PageID_E_318_A_PageName_E_NationalSchoolReadinessIndicat
Friedman, M. (2005). Trying Hard is Not Good Enough: How to Produce Measurable Improvements for Customers and Communities. Victoria, BC: Trafford Publishing
State Indicators for Early Childhood: Short Take #7
http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_822.html
Indicators for Social-emotional Development in Early Childhood: A Guide for Local Stakeholders
http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_901.html
References and Resources: Promotion and Prevention in Child Mental Health and Development
From Neurons to Neighborhoods, 2000
http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2000/From-Neurons-to-Neighborhoods-The-Science-of-Early-Childhood-Development.aspx
Preventing Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders Among Young People: Progress and Possibilities
http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2009/Preventing-Mental-Emotional-and-Behavioral-Disorders-Among-Young-People-Progress-and-Possibilities.aspx
References and Resources: Developmental Screening with Validated Screening Tool
National Children’s Health Survey:
http://www.nschdata.org/Content/Default.aspx
Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics Online
http://www.dbpeds.org/
Commonwealth Fund
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Program-Areas/Archived-Programs/Child-Development-and-Preventive-Care.aspx
